Gov. Bill Owens celebrates another milestone next Sunday – his 56th birthday. Owens was 32 years old when he ran for state office more than two decades ago. Over the years, he has served as a state representative, senator, treasurer and finally as governor.
The governor will mark his last birthday in state office with a family celebration. Owens has three months left in his governorship and is looking forward to a life in the private sector, his spokesman Dan Hopkins says.
What about higher office? Owens is thought to be interested in running for Wayne Allard‘s U.S. Senate seat in 2008. (Allard said early on he had no intention of running beyond two terms, but now is said to be waffling.) Owens is keeping an open mind. “He never shuts the door, but it’s not something he’s considering right now,” said Hopkins.
When he left office, Gov. Roy Romer became Los Angeles school superintendent; Gov. Dick Lamm became an author, academic and twice tried a political comeback – for U.S. Senate in 1992 and president in 1996.
Owens’ successor – whether it is Democrat Bill Ritter or Republican Bob Beauprez – will be the first governor since John A. Love in 1973 who did not get to the governor’s office via the state legislature.
Sports, not politics
The owner of the Trailhead sporting goods store in Buena Vista says that having a name in common with a Republican 527 political attack group could actually work to his advantage. “In a way, it’s turned out to be a good thing for us, the notoriety,” said Keith Baker, who has owned the store for almost three years.
But Baker, a Libertarian, definitely doesn’t want to be mistaken for a group whose politics differ from his own. And he “doesn’t want to be connected in the slightest” with any telemarketing group that disrupts a family when they sit down to dinner after a long day at work.
“People don’t want their suppers interrupted with robo calls. And they’re running lots of ads in this area, favoring one candidate and slamming another,” he said.
Baker’s requests that political Trailhead add a disclaimer at the bottom of its ads have been ignored. But his efforts have raised awareness of his store. People have called or stopped in to ask why his outdoor specialty shop, featuring hiking, cycling, climbing and snowshoeing equipment, has gone to the dark side. Baker explains that it hasn’t.
For those who want to talk politics or buy outdoor gear, Baker’s Trailhead store is a half-mile north of the one and only traffic light in Buena Vista.
Population in flux
More people are coming to Colorado than going. State demographer Elizabeth Garner is director of the office that tracks people movements, and she is preparing to release new population numbers by Nov. 1.
In 2005, 130,000 people moved to Colorado and 105,000 moved out, Garner said. Of the 1.9 million people who moved to the United States from abroad, roughly 18,800 came to Colorado, about a third for jobs.
Given that the first decade of the 21st century will close in just three years, the U.S. Census Bureau already is ramping up for the 2010 Census, she said.
Carnac the magnificent
The Crystal Ball political forecast from Professor Larry Sabato‘s University of Virginia Center for Politics went out on a limb in its latest weekly outlook. Crystal Ball predicts that Democrats will hold between 26 and 28 governorships after Nov. 7 – up from the current 22. Colorado is in the “leaning” Democrat column.
The Crystal Ball also predicts that in the wake of the Mark Foley page scandal, Democrats could take the majority in the U.S. House with as many as 225 seats. They now have 201 seats (it requires 218 seats to obtain a majority, and the GOP now holds 230).
Still, 22 days until Election Day can be an eternity in political time, and as quickly as the forecasts changed last week, they can change again by Nov. 7.
Julia C. Martinez (jmartinez@denverpost.com) is a member of The Denver Post editorial board.
